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authority of the tirst-mentioned district, in order that its medical officer or veterinary surgeon may,
if they so desire, be present at the examinations referred to, and the medical officer of the secondmentioned
local authority shall forthwith report the results of his examination, accompanied by the
report of the veterinary surgeon, if any, to that local authority.
Sub-section 3 of the same section requires the local authority of the district in which the dairy is
situate to meet forthwith and consider the reports and any other evidence by parties concerned, and
either to make an order requiring the dairyman not to supply any milk from the dairy until the order
has been withdrawn by the local authority, or to resolve that no such order is necessary.
Under sub-section 5 the local authority may, if the dairy is within the district, require the dairyman
not to supply milk either within or without the district, and shall give notice of the fact to the
local authority of any district within which they believe milk to be supplied from such dairy.
Provision is made in sub-section 7 for appeal to a sheriff by any local authority or dairyman
aggrieved, and for the order to remain in force pending the disposal of such appeal.
Section 61 enables the local authority in cases where infectious disease is attributable to milk
supplied by any dairyman, whether wholesale or retail, or to milk supplied by one or other of several
such dairymen, whether wholesale or retail, to require such dairyman, whether within or without its
district, to furnish a full and complete list of the names and addresses of all his customers within
the district on payment at the rate of 6d. for every 25 names, and also a full and complete list of
the farmers, dairymen, or other parties from whom, during a period to be specified, the milk or
any part of the milk which they sell or distribute was obtained, and if required to produce and exhibit
to the medical officer or person deputed by him, all invoices, pass-books, accounts or contracts
connected with the consignment or purchase of milk during such period.
We think there would be great advantage if these or similar powers were given to authorities in
England and Wales, and that there is urgent need for legislation on the subject. So far as London is
concerned we have instructed the officers to report as to the form of the legislation necessary, with
a view to the Council, if possible, introducing a bill on the subject. In the meantime we think the
attention of the Local Government Board should be called to the matter, and we recommend—
That the Local Government Board be informed of the facts set forth in the foregoing report as
illustrating the need for an amendment of the law with regard to infectious diseases attributed
to milk.
The committee further reported to the Council on this subject on the 18th June, 1901, to
the following effect—
On 21st May last we reported to the Council the circumstances of a serious outbreak of scarlet
fever, mainly in the east of London, and we pointed out that they illustrated the unsatisfactory position
of the law with regard to infectious diseases attributed to milk. We stated that so far as London
was concerned we had instructed the officers to report as to the form of legislation required, with a
view to the Council, if possible, introducing a bill on the subject. In the meantime we recommended
the Council to call the attention of the Local Government Board to the facts as evidence of the
necessity for an amendment of the law. The Council adopted our recommendation, and a letter was
accordingly addressed to the Local Government Board. We have now received reports from the
officers, and after carefully considering them we are of opinion that the following powers are urgently
required, viz.—
1. Power to require a dairyman to supply to the medical officer of the district a list of his
customers on payment of a small sum for the service.
2. Power to require a dairyman to furnish to the medical officer of the district a list of the
sources of his supply.
3. Power to the sanitary authority to compensate a milk vendor whose milk supply is stopped
at the request of the authority on account of suspicion that it is infective, and whose milk is as
the result of further inquiry subsequently determined not to have been infective.
As to (1) provision should be made for the requirement to apply (a) to the supply to retail vendors
by wholesale vendors, (6) to the supply to consumers by retail vendors.
As to (2) it would be requisite to provide machinery by which milk distributed to consumers could,
if necessary, be traced to the farm from which the milk is received. It would probably suffice, in cases
in which the retail vendor receives milk through a middleman, for the middleman to keep a register
of the sources from which he supplies the retail vendor. In the same way, one vendor selling to
another should be required to keep a record of such transactions and the source from which the supply
is derived.
As already pointed out, there is no power to exclude an infective milk supply from London as a
whole, inasmuch as the Council has no power in the matter, and each of the 29 sanitary authorities can
only exclude the milk from its own district, and that after adopting a procedure involving considerable
loss of time. Such power should be given to the County Council, and along with it the necessary
powers of inspection of dairies and cattle outside as well as inside London. The Council should also
be enabled to exercise the powers numbered 1, 2 and 3, should it find it necessary to do so for the
purpose of dealing with some widespread prevalence of disease involving more than one district.
The necessity for the sanitary authority to obtain a magistrate's order before making an inspection
of a dairy and of cows ought to be obviated ; at any rate, it might be provided that this should be
unnecessary unless demanded by the dairyman. The loss of time in obtaining an order may mean loss
of life among the consumers.
Again, the procedure provided in section 71 of the Public Health (London) Act, by which a
meeting of the sanitary authority is needed before the supply of milk within its district from a
particular dairy can be stopped, may lead to serious loss of time. The procedure adopted in connection
with the closure of a school under the Education Code, by which any two members can act on the
advice of the medical officer of health, is much more convenient. It might be well to provide for
appeal. Loss of time in connection with the settlement of an appeal as to money is of small moment
as compared with loss of time in stopping the distribution of an infective milk supply.
A few other prevalences of scarlet fever a.re referred to in the reports of medical officers of
health. The medical officer of health of Paddington comments on excessive prevalences of the
disease in the Hall Park district and in the neighbourhood of Clarendon-street. In the former
the evidence suggested personal communication as the cause, the disease being probably contracted
by children playing together in the street ; later the association of children in a board
school appeared also to have had some influence in the same direction. In the latter there was
less evidence of direct personal infection, and there was no evidence that attendance at school
was operative as a cause. The medical officer of health of St. Pancras reports the occurrence of eight
cases in a private school, and also an outbreak involving 30 cases in the Regent's-park Barracks,
probably ilue to the existence of an unrecognised case of the disease. The medical officer of
health of Hackney reports a small outbreak in a home in Clapton, 17 persons being attacked.
The disease was due to the introduction into the home of an inmate who was not known at the